Under The Sun At The Greek Theatre with Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray, Blues Traveler

Under The Sun Tour

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Last Summer the Under the Sun Tour included 5 bands in the following order; Fastball, Vertical Horizon, Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth. This time around it’s Uncle Kracker, Blues Traveler in addition to headliners Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth. To fit all 4 bands into a 4 hour show with a 20 minute intermission between each band each set was 45 minutes long.Las summer Uncle Kracker was on tour opening for Kool and The Gang and Kid Rock. Uncle Kracker took the stage at 7:00 and opened with Heaven and played a 10 song set which included their own songs and covers. Uncle Kracker performed covers of Kenny Chesney’s “When The Sun Goes Down,” Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away,” which was his biggest hit and re-recorded the original version with Dobie Gray, and closed with Kid Rock’s All Summer Long. On their song “Follow Me,” The band went into AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” During the guitar solo on “All Summer Long,” the band messed around with the guitarist where the other members were playing his instrument and Uncle Kracker (Matthew Shafer) took the guitarists sunglasses off and put them on.

Uncle Kracker Setlist1. Heaven2. Nobody’s Sad On A Saturday Night3. When The Sun Goes Down4. Good To Be Me5. In A Little While6. Follow Me/You Shoot Me All Night Long7. No Stranger To Shame8. Drift Away9. Smile10. All Summer Long

Next up was Blues Traveler, the only band on the tour to have all original members minus bassist Bobby Sheehan, who passed away in 1999. Before Blues traveler took the stage the theme song from “Team America: World Police” was played . Blues Traveler kicked off their set with “Things Are Looking Up,” followed by a cover of Sublime’s “What I Got,” and their biggest hit “Run-Around.” Next was a cover of Charlie Daniel’s “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Blues Traveler ended with “Hook.” After they walked off stage another song from “Team America” was played, “I’m So Ronery.” Blues Traveler’s set also included memorable solos from each member. Besides having great songs, Blues Traveler also has great musicians.

Blues Traveler Set List1. Things Are Looking Up2. What I Got3. Run-Around4. Devil Went Down To Georgia5. The Mountains Win Again6. But Anyway7. HookSugar Ray came on at 9:10 and opened with “Summertime’s Coming.” 2 Years ago original bassist and drummer Murphey Karges and Stan Frazier left the band. Joining the band was current Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth who first toured with the band last summer and new bassist Kristian Attard (Heart, Jason Mraz). Any soundtrack of the 90’s wouldn’t be complete without Sugar Ray or Smash Mouth with songs that defined that era. For those who saw Sugar Ray last summer or in recent years would never have recognized a beardless Rodney Shepherd, but it was easy to tell with his playing and backing vocals. The second song was one of Sugar Ray’s biggest hits “Someday.” The set also included Sugar Ray hits; “Every Morning,” “When It’s Over,” “Fly,” and a cover of Violent Femmes’ “Blister In The Sun.” Before “Blister In The Sun,” McGrath made a joke about the band writing a 25 minutes blues song that were going to play. The band did play a short blues into. The best front-man of the night was Mark McGrath as he had the crowd going their whole set. Last summer Mark McGrath dedicated the final song “Fly” to his mother, who had just passed earlier that year. This time McGrath dedicated the song to actor/comedian Robin Williams who had tragically passed the day before the show, and mentioned how nice he was to the band on the set of “Father’s Day.” At the end of “Fly”, McGrath brought out his two daughters ( 3-4 years old) to come out and sing with him.

Sugar Ray Setlist1. Summertime’s Coming2. Someday3. Answer The Phone4. Every Morning5. When It’s Over6. Blister In The Sun7. FlySmash Mouth took the stage at 10:15. Although it was getting late, the crowd showed no signs of wear, because they showed just as much enthusiasm as they did for the groups before. This was a show that had the crowd on their feet the whole time. Drummer Jason Sutter (Marilyn Manson, Foreigner) started off with a drum solo and then the band joined in as they opened their set with “Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby,” and as singer Steve Harwell walked out the crowd started going crazy. Smash Mouth is not only known for their own songs, but also covers they made which were just as big as the originals. Smash Mouth played “Come On Come,” “Walkin’ On The Sun,” The Monkee’s “I’m A Believer,” and closed with their biggest hit “All Star,” which had the crowd off their feet the whole song. Driving the band Sutter, whose beat pushed the energy and also played an incredible solo on “Diggin’ Your Scene.” Rejoining the band was founding guitarist Greg Camp. The only other original member besides Harwell and Camp is bassist Paul De Lisle. Smash Mouth had the most amount of hit songs of the bands on the tour. Harwell’s voice hasn’t changed a bit and the band sounds as great as ever. If you missed this tour, make sure you catch it next time it comes around.

Smash Mouth Setlist1. Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby2. Getaway Car3. Then The Morning Comes4. Why Can’t We Be Friends?5. Stoned6. Diggin’ Your Scene (With Drum Solo)7. So Insane8. All Day And All Night9. Walkin’ On The Sun10. I’m A Believer11. All Star

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Alex Kluft is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago (2014). He feels that both music and photography represent a large part of what defines him. The reason why he likes concert photography is that it allows him to "capture the moment” for himself and others to enjoy forever.